Funding plan a must for long-term medical care

Interesting study done by Met Life and reported in the Dallas-Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

(see Star-Telegram article http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/11/21/2649047/funding-plan-a-must-for-long-term.html )

The study can be found on the Met Life website by entering the name in the site search engine or here http://www.metlife.com/assets/cao/mmi/publications/studies/mmi-market-survey-nursing-home-assisted-living.pdf?SCOPE=Metlife#Page=3 . I would still like to see more detail about the costs included in the totals to better enable comparison between the U S experience and the Canadian experience.

The numbers are pretty high at $83,500 for nursing care and $39,500 for Daily Assisted Living but not surprising until one compares them to the expected annual income of a person in need or extends them across the entire population. The numbers then can be staggering.

This highlights the importance of CPP, OAS and other income support programs.

Remember going to retirement savings investment seminars and being told that CPP was not going to be there when we needed it? The Chretien/ Martin team changed the way it operated and its life was extended by 99 years or some time like that. Well, with Cons at the controls again, once again the investment seminar people are beginning to spout the same stuff about the unsustainability of the CPP et al. (is there some connection between Con governments and the rise of this message of desperation?)

It is no doubt true that CPP et al must be managed carefully, but it is nice to have as a starting point the level of need to be met. The Met Life study supplies an interesting piece to the puzzle.

It's always worthwhile to study demand before embarking on supply. That study of demand has to carefully done to ensure relevance. It can also be extremely useful for creating direction for structuring of any sort of public program, especially healthcare, even planning the timely supply of chocolate-chip cookies!

Mike